Afternoon at Bolshoi Ballet to watch Carmen Suite and Petrushka

Sunday, May 19, 2019 I woke up around 6 am, and I noticed it was raining outside. It must have been raining all morning. I got up and did my usual morning routine. I still plan to go to a Bolshoi Ballet performance at 1 pm. By noon, the rain had stopped. And, I have arrived early at the theater. I waited in my car for a while, and I noticed that it rained for a couple of seconds.

At 1:15 pm, I went to the Regency Theatre to watch a Bolshoi Ballet performance of Carmen Suite and Petrushka. I bought a cup of coffee, since I arrived there a little early. As I was finishing up my coffee cup, I notice the theater was filling up. Both performances had one act, although Petrushka had 4 scenes.

Carmen Suite story had a love triangle between Carmen, Don Jose, and toreador Escamillo. In the beginning, Carmen is dressed in a flirty and sexy in a red lacy outfit as well as a big red rose hairpiece in her hair. She playfully dances with Don Jose to flirt with him and convince him to let her out of the prison. Sventlana Zakharova is fun and playful in this performance that it looks like a cute romance. In the same red outfit, she later appears to be infatuated with Escamillo as she pursues and romances him.

In the second half of Carmen Suite, Carmen is now wearing a sexy and lacy black outfit, as she pursues her love interest Escamillo. Don Jose joins the love triangle performance, dressed in a red blouse, as he passionately pursues Carmen.

Carmen performs with Don Jose and Escamillo in the end. It looks like she dies at the end, in Don Jose’s arms.

I found the Carmen Suite performance on Youtube, where Svetlana Zakharova performs Carmen in Bolshoi Ballet.

I found a video of Petrushka ballet but it is a different version from the Bolshoi Ballet performance that I watched today.

The first scene depicts a traditional Russian festival in St. Petersburg, which looks like a fun carnival. A magician entertains a large crowd of people with his flute as well as his puppets—Petrushka, a ballerina, and the Moor.

In the second scene, the puppets are at the small theater, where Petrushka pursues the ballerina, but she rejects him.

In the third scene, the ballerina falls for the Moor, and she decides to seduce him. Petrushka decides to attack the Moor, but the Moor chases him away.

The fourth scene takes place during the evening hours, where the party continues at the festival. The Moor chases Petrushka until he kills him. The magician tries to keep the crowd entertained at the festival, Petrushka’s ghost appears above the theater.

This second video of Petrushka is different from the Bolshoi Ballet version I just watched. This version is filled with acting, props, and colorful set design.

I walked out of the theater, where they passed out a little candy after the show. When I walked outside, sucking on the candy, I noticed the ground had completed dried up and there was a bight sunshine that almost blinded me. As I drove home, I decided to stop at Mother’s Market because Gumby was out of litter. I also bought dinner, in which I ate most of it outside in the cafe area. I also got some vegan jerky because I like chewing on that vegan meat. 

I noticed that Bolshoi Ballet performances always have love triangles in their stories.